In Dan Fogelman's Paradise, we're apparently in an affluent suburban town in which everything looks fairly tidy. It's the home of Sterling K. Brown's Xavier Collins, a widower and secret service agent, which would be more impressive if the president he'd been serving (James Marsden) hadn't been murdered (much of the narrative is revealed in flashbacks). Oh, and that cute little town? Turns out that it's ... something else. These 10 shows also come at their dystopian narratives sideways, using science fiction in surprising ways. Stream Paradise on Hulu and then head down these other dark holes.

Silo (2023 – )

Rebecca Ferguson stars as Juliette Nichols, an engineer who gets wrapped up in an investigation involving the local sheriff (David Oyelowo)—usual procedural stuff, except that the characters all inhabit a massive silo, 144 levels deep, protecting the remaining 10,000 humans from the allegedly poisoned world above. Those running the silo have managed to convince everyone left that only strict adherence to rules and procedures will keep them safe from the dangers outside. This is a more dour, less colorful apocalypse than the one in Fallout—it's a prestige drama that incorporates elements of horror, mystery, and science fiction to tell human stories about fear and control. A third and concluding fourth season are both coming, so the show has the increasingly rare advantage of a planned conclusion. Stream Silo on Apple TV+.

Silo (2023 – )

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Ascension (2014)

This smart, not terribly well-remembered miniseries establishes an alternate timeline à la For All Mankind: The Kennedy administration sends a generation ship into space (allegedly) in order to ensure the survival of humanity through the Cold War; as the series opens, it's been just a bit over 50 years since the launch (2014, as it happens). The first murder ever committed on the Ascension raises a ton of questions, as does the fact that nobody back on Earth seems to have ever heard of this massive project. Look out for a couple of shock reveals and smart twists. Stream Ascension on Tubi.

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Ascension (2014)

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Snowpiercer (2020 – 2024)

Though initially feeling like an unnecessary extension of Bong Joon Ho's allegorical post-apocalyptic film, Snowpiercer ultimately takes on a life of its own as a clever sci-fi melodrama, smartly recognizing that there are no heroes and few true villains at the end of the world—it's mostly just people doing whatever they can to survive. In a frozen future, humanity survives on an extremely long train that circumnavigates the globe. If it stops, the power will go out and everyone (literally everyone) will die. Those who came aboard with wealth live near the front in relative luxury, while the poor live on scraps (or worse) in the train's tail. Daveed Diggs stars as former detective Andre Layton, a "Tailie" deputized by Jennifer Connelly's Melanie Cavill, engineer and the train's Head of Hospitality, to solve a series of murders. The inevitable uprising that follows sets the two of them on different sides of a violent conflict, before each eventually realizes they're just pawns of elites—same as it ever was. It's far less coy about its sci-fi setting than Paradise, but pays as a similarly apocalyptic political thriller. Stream Snowpiercer on Prime Video and Tubi.

Snowpiercer (2020 – 2024)

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Sugar (2024 – )

Sugar doesn't try to obscure or downplay its reliance on old-school Hollywood noir tropes: Its characters are driven to emulate the style of antiheroes of old, and clips from old movies even play alongside the action as a means of driving the point home. The central mystery sees detective John Sugar (Colin Farrell) summoned to the mansion of a rich movie producer (James Cromwell), whose granddaughter has gone missing. The first few episodes are intriguing, and the premise is unique in that Sugar is kind of an anti-anti-hero—he's an actual nice guy in a world where he's expected to play the tough guy. The sixth episode, though, drops an absolutely wild, love-it-or-hate it plot twist that drives the remaining episode and, presumably, the forthcoming second season—and that's where it it heads into Paradise territory as a bit of sneaky, stealthy sci-fi. The show comes from writer Mark Protosevich (The Cell, I Am Legend) and is smartly directed by City of God's Fernando Meirelles, so it has style to spare. Stream Sugar on Apple TV.

Sugar (2024 – )

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Wayward Pines (2015 – 2016)

While we're talking high-concept sci-fi, let's head off to Wayward Pines, from whence you will never leave. Based on a trilogy of Blake Crouch novels, this one stars Matt Dillon as a secret service agent investigating the disappearances of two fellow agen

10 Shows Like 'Paradise' You Should Watch Next